Arch support



Patented tag. 28, 1923.

n surroar.

Application filed April as; 1822. Serial No. 556,163.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILL N. Sncnnm, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fort Scott, county of Bourbon, and State of Kansas, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Arch Supports, of whichthe following is a full, clear, and ex-' act description, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpartof this application, in which- Figure 1 is a' sectional View of a shoeshowing my arch support in position therein. 1 Figure 2 is a detail viewof my improved arch support secured in position on the outer sole of theshoe. i

Figure 3 is a plan view of a modified form of hinge.

Figure 4 is a sectional view on line 4-4 of Figure 3. Figure 5 is adetail view of another modified form of hinge.

Figures 6 to 13 are detail views of other.

modified forms.

' This invention relates to an improvement in arch supports, and isdesignedpartlcularly as an im rovement u on that type of arch support sown in U. Letters atent No. 1,391,584, granted to me September 20, 1921.

The objects of this present-invention are to simplify the constructionof arch supports, cheapen the cost of manufacture, and to provide samewith means whereby 1t becomes attached to and forms a part of thefinished shoe.

In my present invention, as 1n the patent referred to, the main shankportion f the arch support while possessing flexibility to a certainextent is practically rigid, while the forward hinged portion forms anextension of the main shank portion and is likewise practically rigidwhen'supportlng a superposed load, but whlch forward extension iscapable of being flexed or bent downwardly by the peculiar construct onof the hin e. This hinge is practically 1n the form 0 an elbow or rulejoint, whereby the hinged parts are capable of relative movement only inone direction, movement 1n the opposite direction being arrested whenthe parts of the hinge co-act 1n such manner as to provide abuttingshoulders which lend stamped from sheet metal forward in:

rigidity to the structure and enable the hinge to support a superpomdload.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the heel portion of a shoe upper,;2' theinsole, 3 the outer sole and 4 the heel riser.

5 indicates a metal plate, preferably, r and formed slightly concave onits upper surface, said plate having perforations in its rear endwhereby it may be nailed in position to the heel seat by means of nailsor brads 6.

7 indicates a rivet which secures the forward end of this'main shankportion 5 to the outer sole at a point preferably slightly in advanceofthe heel.

8 indicates the forward extension of the I shank which is secured to theouter sole by means of a rivet '9 near the ball of. the foot. This shankextensionis provided with rearwardly extending tongues 10 which arestaggered with relation to each other, and are preferably flared asshown in Figure 1.1. Wit no weight on the arch the arts are unstressedor in normal position. 1811 the wearer is standing and the arch isweighted between the arrowsjc and d, the points of reaction being atarrows a and b, the arch sections are under compression between theanchorage points 7 and 9, and the outer sole under tension between thesepoints. The

I end of the main shank portion 5 is meived between the tongues 10 andabuts against the wall formed by the junction. of said tongues and thebody por+- tion of the forward extension 8. When the shank portions 5and 8 are secured in position to the outer sole, and the parts are inthe position shown in Figure 1, it is possible, on account of theflaring position of the tongues, to bend the heel portion of the outersole downwardly in the zone of the point indicated b arrow e, and, asrepresented bythe dot an dash lines in Figure 1, the flaring lowertongue. permitting this slight downward movement of said heel portion.However, when the heel of the shoe is lifted,- as in walking, asindicated by dotted lines in Fi re 1, the u per ton as 10 contact with te upper surace of t e free forward edge of the main shank portion 5, atwhich time the forward edge of said main shank portion engages in thesocket formed by the tongues, thereby placing the arch sections incompression-between .their anchoring points 7 and 9 (the outer solebeing under tension between these points at this time) thus providing apractically rigid arch structure in which the forward extension 8constitutes a practicallyrigid extension of the main shank portion 5;but the entire shoe is, of course,.

. portions, as indicated by the dot and dash lines in Figure 1. imposedupon the shank'portions 5 and 8, say at or near the hinge joint (betweenarrows and d) the anchorage of the shank portions places under tensionbetween the points of anchorage and the shank portions and 8 undercompression between said anchorage points.

Hence, substantial rigidity is obtained between the anchorage points.Furthermore,

by nailing or anchoring the rear end ofthe main shank to the heel seat,a firm or rigid support for the arch is provided substantiallythroughout the length of the shank of the shoe when weight in properrelation is imposed thereon. From the above, it will be observed thatthe sole of the shoe is flexible at and in front of arrow (1, i. e., canbe bent both upwardly and downwardly, as permitted by the up-' per; butthat the shank of the shoe can only be flexed at one point, in the zoneof the arrow e, and in one direction only, (upwardly) at this point, theshank being rigid to suport a superposed load tending to flex itownwardly, or in the opposite direction.

By coverm the metal arch support wit the insole, sai insole serves tohold the parts to the shoe and, to eac other, and there is a smoothsurface for the wearers foot.

In Figures 3'and L I have shown a modi;

fied form of'hinge in which the main shank portion 5 is formed with ahinge eye 5 substantially at its central point, the metal be, ingcutaway oneach side of this hin e eye. The-shank extension ,8 is formedwit eyes 8 and a tongue 10, the latter resting upon the upper surface ofthe main shank portion 5. This hinged joint permits the'forwar extension8 to be flexed downwardly but the tongue 10 by engaging the uppersurface of the main shank portion 5 prevents vertical movement of saidforward shank extension. 11 indicates the hinged ppintle passing throughthe hinge tongues ands:

In Figure 5 I have shown another modified form in which the main shank 5is pro- However, when load is the outer sole of the shoe h is providedwith'an overlapping vided with an opening 5 on its forward end while theshank extension 8 is provided with a tongue 10 desi ned to be passedthrough the opening 5 an form an elbow joint po'ssessing the functionsabove described.

In the forms shown in Figures 1, 2 and 5 when the outer sole of the shoeis flexed opposite the hinge joint of the shank, there is a relativelongitudinal movement between the parts of the metal shank constitutingthe arch support.

In Figure 6, I have shown a modified form corresponding substantially tothe form shown in Figures 3 and 4 in which the support is made up ofthree sections a, b, and 0, connected to ether in such a manner that thetwo forwar sections can be flexed downwardly but are substantially rigidwhen a load is imposed thereon at a point between the ends of the archsupport.

In Figure 7, I have shown an arch support composed of three sections a,b and 0, sections 1) and'c having tongues on their forward edges andbeing provided with slots 12 through which pass rivets 13. These rivetspermlt a longitudinal and lateral movement of the forward sections andalso a slight hinging action of the forward sections relative to theheel section on account of the play between the heads of the rivets 13and the parts which they connect together.

In Figure 8, I have shown a hinge formed by means of a loop 14, seeFigure 9, which loop has its ends received in an eye 15 on the frontsection 16 of the arch support, there being a bent tongue 17 providedwith a jog or bend, which passes throu this form, 18 is the forwarvsupport. In Figure 10, I have shown the heel section 19 of the archsupport provided with downturned flanges 20 for receiving the hingedextension of the and a depressed portion 24, the atter co-oph eratinwith the hinge; intle. I

In igure 11, I have s own a construction in which the forward ortion isformed with an eye 26 at the en if of the tongue which lies under theheel portion 27 of the support, said heel portion being rovided with adepressed portion 28 on eac side of the slot 29.

In Figures 12 and 13, I have shown the forward portion 29 as havinghinged lugs 30 designed to. co-operate with the hinge lu 32 on the rearportion 34., A hinge pind tle 35 passes" through the hinge lugs andserves to hold the parts in position while flanges 36 on the contiguousedges of the parts, by contacting with each other above the hingepintle, prevent the forward portion from be flexed upwardly;

WhatIclaimis:

1. An arch supporhfoe shoes composed of a plurality of parts hingedlyconnectedpintle 21. The forward extension 22 tongue 23 h the loop. In Iassa together, said parts being anchored and rigidly secured to a partof the shoe on each side of said hinge connection.

2. A sectional metal arch support, the sections of which are designed tobe separately secured in position between the III- ner and outer solesof a shoe, and means for connecting said sections together for flexingmovement in one direction only.

3. A metal arch support for shoes comprising a main shank portion and aforward extension connected together for relativelongitudinal movement,and means for securing said parts respectively to the outer sole of theshoe.

4. A metal arch support for shoes comprising a main shank. portion and aforwardly extending portion, said parts being connected together forrelative longitudinal movement, and means for anchoring each of saidparts to the outer sole of the shoe, sa1d means being located .on eachside of the ]01I1t between the parts.

5. A metal arch support for shoes comprising a plurality of shankportions designed to be fastened respectively to the outer sole of theshoe, said shank portions being designed to engage each other when theouter sole of the shoe is bent upwardly and placed under tension,thereby placing said shank portions under compression, and said shankportions separating whenthe outer sole is bent so as to be placed undercompression.

6. A metal arch support for shoes comprising two members, one of whichis designed to be anchored to the heel seat of the shoe and the other ofwhich is designed to be anchored to the ball of the sole, said lastmentioned portion being capable of movement in one direction only withrespect to said anchored portion.

7. In an arch support for shoes, the combination of a shoe, its outersole, inner sole and heel, said arch support being composed of aplurality of sections one of which is anchored to the shoe at the heelportion thereof, and another ofwhich isanchored to the ball of the shoe,said last mentioned section being movable in .one direction only.

with respect to the heel anchored portion of the support, and bothportions of said arch support being located between the inshoes, of anarch support composed of sections, each of which is anchored to saidouter sole, and a joint between the sections which permits flexing ofsaid arch support in one direction only.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature this 10th day ofMarch, 1922.

. I WILL N. SECHLER.

